Orochimaru completely ignored Izo, who had lost his soul, and with a mischievous smile, he darted onto Ace's back, pressing his entire body against Ace's.
"Ramen~ Is it delicious~"
Ace shivered, and in an instant, a chill swept over him. He couldn't help but swallow.
"De… Delicious."
Orochimaru's face rubbed against Ace's cheek, then his hands wrapped around Ace's neck, and with a spin, he straddled Ace's waist, then suddenly squeezed Ace's neck.
"Do you think I'm Luffy!!!! Ace!! How dare you dislike my ramen! And secretly swap it with Sabo!!!!
Don't think I don't know! You were the one who secretly took Luffy and the others to steal food back then!"
Izo, who had been wallowing in sorrow, watched this scene, his eyes nearly popping out. He quickly tucked his diary into his arms and rushed over.
"Ace!!!!"
Seeing this, Sabo spat out the tea in his mouth with a puff, then felt a bit guilty. Actually, he had mentioned it back then, but Ace had just gone ahead with it, so innocent-looking.
Now, he couldn't care less about anything else. How many years had this Kuma-child held a grudge? And had his personality become more Kuma-like? It must be Whitebeard spoiling him!
Orochimaru used to at most kill Ace! But he would never choke him!
Seeing Ace about to foam at the mouth, Sabo hurriedly hugged Orochimaru's waist and pulled him down.
"Orochimaru... let go! Let go! Ace is about to roll his eyes!"
Izo also darted over instantly, directly grabbing one of Orochimaru's arms and pulling with force.
"Orochimaru... no... Lord Orochimaru... let go."
Hearing the title "Lord Orochimaru," Orochimaru couldn't help but freeze for a moment. It seemed like a long time since anyone had called him that.
Marco seized this opportunity and quickly dragged Ace away.
Looking at the 'dead' Ace, who looked like he was about to die, Marco's mouth twitched... his acting... was too poor... Ace, who was playing dead, secretly pulled a toy out of his pocket and threw it towards Orochimaru's head.
The onlookers were all bewildered. What was Ace doing? Had children's fights started with throwing toys?
Orochimaru didn't even look, and with a disdainful expression, he threw a shuriken, directly splitting the toy above his head in half. As everyone watched, the toy broke into two, and a caterpillar fell out, landing squarely on Orochimaru's face.
(ｉ Д ｉ) Sabo was stunned, "Ah..."
Orochimaru was also stunned, then reacted and froze completely, followed by a piercing scream that sent shivers down everyone's spines.
This scream startled even Whitebeard, who had been happily watching these children fool around, as the bug was too small for Whitebeard to see clearly.
Sabo snapped back to reality after hearing the scream, "!! Ace, are you trying to commit a mutual kill?!!!! We're on a ship! Do you still think he's 7 years old?!!!"
Sabo hurriedly threw away the bug, wiped Orochimaru's face clean, and then gently and soothingly stroked Orochimaru's back.
"Good Orochimaru... no bugs, that's just an illusion... deep breaths... deep breaths... don't turn into a snake... no bugs, it's fake... it's fake... good."
But Orochimaru was completely rigid, his mind filled with images of bugs crawling on his face, and his body began to gradually transform into a snake.
By the time the group reacted, everyone was crowded into a corner, huddled together, and Whitebeard was even pushed to the edge of the ship, looking bewildered.
The group finally managed to break free from the crowd and stood on the whale's head, only to see a giant snake, over 50 meters long, coiled on the deck of the Moby Dick. Its massive body caused the Moby Dick to sink slightly.
Whitebeard looked at the behemoth before him with a grim expression. If he wasn't mistaken, this should be Orochimaru.
"So... Ace... can you tell me what exactly you did?"
Ace looked utterly embarrassed. He couldn't very well say he had forgotten Orochimaru's current snake form, could he?
Sabo sighed helplessly.
"How should I put it, Orochimaru is afraid of bugs. Usually, it's fine, with his skills, he can dodge if he can. But this time... Ace threw it right on his face, causing a stress reaction.
The good news is Orochimaru will be quiet for a while. The bad news is, you guys are in trouble, and if you want to go back to the cabin these two days, you'll have to figure it out yourselves."
Whitebeard was still confused, "What kind of trouble is going back to the cabin?"
Sabo pointed to the giant snake quietly coiled, completely filling the entire deck.
"He won't move until you clean him. He was like this when he was little; when he got scared, he would subconsciously turn into a snake. But back then, he was only a meter long, so he was easy to clean. But now?"
Sabo pointed to the snake, as thick as a mast, over 50 meters long, and even with wings. "Do you think this thing is easy to wash?"
The group fell silent. How many days would that take to wash? Jozu scratched his head foolishly (ﾋ • ω • ﾏ).
"This is his Devil Fruit ability, right? Just use a Sea Stone net to make him change back."
Everyone looked at Jozu with disdain, "Do you think we have something like that?"
Jozu looked at Marco, "We do, right? I remember on the last island, Marco specifically had someone custom-make it. It was originally meant to prevent Pops from stealing sake."
The group looked at Marco in disbelief. You're such a "pineapple head." Even Whitebeard's gaze towards Marco turned unfriendly, that gaze pressing down on Marco as if it were solid.
Marco felt a bit unnerved by everyone's stares. He awkwardly scratched his head and mumbled softly,
"I'm doing this for Pops's own good. He's been stealing sake too frequently lately. His surgery is still a month away, and he can't drink alcohol for this month. If Pops manages to steal some, he definitely won't care about his body."
The group nodded in agreement, and instantly, their condemning gazes turned towards Whitebeard.
Whitebeard, feeling flustered under their scrutiny, "You brats... what kind of talk is that? Go get the net quickly!"
Marco scratched his head.
"Pops, I'm a Devil Fruit user too. Let Izo and the others go. It's in the wine cellar."
Izo and the others struggled to squeeze through the middle of the snake's body, and then squeezed out, panting heavily... It was truly heavy. They couldn't even imagine how many days it would take to actually wash it.
The group then put in a lot of effort to cover the snake's body with the Sea Stone net. After touching the Sea Stone net, the snake slowly began to transform back into human form.
Sabo picked up Orochimaru, who was still in self-isolation, and walked towards the bathroom, giving Ace a glare along the way. He was too rough, and he was supposed to be an older brother.
Sabo, who had just walked into the bathroom and was about to turn on the water, suddenly felt awkward.
"Izo... do me a favor... help me wash Orochimaru. I can't bathe him..."
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